But during the winter of 2010, Jordan's health rapidly began to decline. He suffered for weeks with flu-like symptoms, until doctors at Emory University Hospital found Jordan's kidneys were only functioning at 15 to 20 percent of capacity. Doctors diagnosed Jordan with ANCA vasculitis, a type of swelling caused by antibodies attacking his body tissue.

A Sudden Diagnosis

Doctors said that Jordan's diagnosis was sudden. It is the type of disease that comes on very quickly and does not have clear early symptoms.

Jordan started dialysis three times a week. As his condition worsened, doctors made the dialysis daily. Two days before he enrolled at Wake Forest for the fall semester, doctors told Jordan he needed a kidney transplant as soon as possible. Jordan completed the first semester of school while receiving dialysis.

"I didn't really think about [dialysis] shortening my life, but the whole time I was thinking: something is going to happen and I'll get better," said Jordan.

While doctors discussed Jordan's treatment and prognosis with Walter and a trainer, "our mouths were hanging open," said Walter. "We couldn't believe what he had endured. I made the decision immediately that if I could help, I would."

After Jordan's mother and brother were not found to be good donor matches, Walter was tested.

Walter learned he was a match in late January of this year. When he told his team a week ago that he'd be donating his kidney, the players gave him a round of applause.

'Veracity of One Individual'

"This was a really remarkable thing in such a short period of time," said Kirk. "It was the veracity of one individual that changed circumstance, and the focus is really on the remarkable nature on what Kevin and Walter did."

And Jordan, who was a 19th-round draft pick of the New York Yankees last June, said he is grateful.

"I don't think there are words for it in my vocabulary, but thankful is as good as it gets," said Jordan.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 109,719 people currently wait for an organ donation and 18 people will die each day waiting for an organ. Before Walter volunteered, doctors told Jordan he might have to wait three to five years on a list for an organ donation.

Live, Non-Familial Donations

But Newell said that transplant recipients gain an average of 10 extra years of life compared to patients living on dialysis. And in the last decade, more patients and healthy individuals have been open to live organ transplants through non-familial connections.